Retrofit containers to be established at prisons to conduct virtual hearings

Oct 05, 2020 News

– prisoners will no longer be transported to court

Kaieteur News – A decision was made to install retrofitted containers at prisons to conduct virtual hearings in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a press release from the office of the Attorney General (AG).

Camp Street Prison, one of the prisons that will be equipped with the retrofit containers.

As a result of that, prisoners will no longer be transported to court houses for hearings or trials.
According to the release, the retrofit containers will be set up at Camp Street, Georgetown; Lusignan, East Coast Demerara; New Amsterdam and Mazaruni.
The release stated that the Government of Guyana, the Judiciary, the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Prisons Service have collaborated to, “Enhance the speedy hearings, trials and disposal of cases in the criminal justice system, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, which have placed severe restraint on the movement and gathering of persons in every endeavour.”
The Government team is led by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Hon. Mohabir Anil Nandlall, and includes Minister Robeson Benn and a number of technical personnel from the National Data Management Authority.
Representing the Judiciary are Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire, Justice Naresh Harnanan and Justice Brassington Reynolds, while Assistant Commissioner of Police, Clifton Hickens, led a team from the Guyana Police Force and the Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels, and his staff were present on behalf of the Guyana Prisons Service.
The team met yesterday at the Umana Yana, Georgetown, and made a series of important decisions, the main objective of which is to establish the required physical and technical infrastructure for criminal litigation to take place on virtual platforms.
The retrofit containers will be air-conditioned and equipped with the necessary technical apparatus that will provide a link to the prisoners and the various courthouses.
When the containers are implemented, the need for prisoners to be transported out of the prisons to be taken to court for their cases will no longer be required.
Another aspect of the project that the team has embarked on is to equip some police stations similarly across the country, so that the defendants can virtually make their first court appearance from the retrofit containers that will be set up at police stations.
Other countries in the Caribbean jurisdictions are already moving in this direction with Trinidad and Tobago being the most advanced. The team plans on using Trinidad and Tobago as the model to design Guyana’s system.

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